


Bluebird

by AyuOhseki



Category: Tales of Berseria
Genre: Early in Canon, F/F, Mild Blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 04:17:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17780405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyuOhseki/pseuds/AyuOhseki
Summary: Written for Tales of Covert Cupid 2019; Berseria spoilers up to the Brigid Ravine. Eleanor finds an injured bluebird and wants to treat its wounds; Velvet orders her to leave it be and let nature handle its own. However, while Eleanor might claim she's now Velvet's obedient underling, she proves to be a poor listener.





	Bluebird

“Oh!” Eleanor gasped, leaning over the edge of the mountain path outside the Yvolg Ruins, right on the Brigid Ravine. About fifteen feet down, a bluebird shivered on a narrow ledge, blood speckling its splayed wing. “That poor little bird, it’s hurt!”

“So?” said Velvet, hanging back behind her. “That’s none of our business.”

Eleanor shot her a dirty glare. “How can you be so heartless?! Even if you may have beaten me into your service, there’s no need to be cruel to an innocent creature!”

Velvet slid her an unimpressed stare. That fateful duel of theirs had been just the other day. Eleanor had no idea that Velvet knew Artorius had talked her into pretending to be her servant, rather than killing herself out of shame, all for the chance to kidnap Laphicet. Her goody-two-shoes act was thus extra irritating. “This isn’t cruelty. It’s nature. Wild animals get hurt and sick all the time. Either it’ll heal on its own, or something else will eat it.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Eleanor insisted. Ugh. How did she ever think she could fool anyone? Those clear eyes of her were so disgustingly sincere. “It looks like that bluebird’s hurt its wing. If I can just climb down and bring it back up, I’ll be able to bandage it up!”

“And then what? Healing artes and gels won’t instantly fix broken bones. It’ll still need time to recuperate. Do you intend on stealing a wild animal away from its home and carrying it with you across the mountains and through the mines so you can pat yourself on the back for being a good person?”

Eleanor flinched and clutched a hand to her chest. “That’s...”

“Just leave it alone,” Velvet stated. “Whatever will be, will be.”

She glared at her. “I can’t agree with that position. Standing back and doing nothing when I could act to help someone in need goes against who I am.”

“Leave it alone,” Velvet repeated. “That’s an order. And if you can’t follow one that simple, I have no need for you.”

“Ggh…!” The ‘former’ exorcist grit her teeth and bowed her head, fists trembling. “Very… well,” she muttered. “I understand.”

Velvet marched away without a word. She did not, however, believe that Eleanor would leave it be for a second. Through the morning, as everyone prepped to set off across the bridge through the mountain range, she kept an eye on her would-be servant. On the surface, Eleanor did as she was told and packed efficiently, but she kept close to that spot on the ridge and frequently peeked over the side. When Rokurou asked her what she was doing, she made some weak excuse that Rokurou apparently didn’t care enough about to call out. But that was fine, since Velvet knew what was going on anyway.

She considered telling Eleanor off for hovering, but… technically, as long as she didn’t climb down that damn ridge, she _was_ leaving it alone. After a moment of thinking it over, she decided, whatever. If keeping an eye on it made her feel better and thus less mouthy, she could allow that much give on her leash.

However, when Eleanor suggested that everyone take an after-lunch nap so that they could set off at full energy, then set up near the ruin exit for her ‘nap,’ Velvet’s bullshit sensors went off. She pretended to go along with it and sat in the corner closest to the exit; then, once everyone else was asleep and Eleanor snuck out, Velvet crept after her. At first she figured she would catch her at the exit, but by the time she reached it, Eleanor was already climbing down the ravine. If nothing else, Velvet could respect that kind of speed and dedication, so she waited until she was out of sight, then slunk over to the ridge.

“There, there, it’s all right,” she heard Eleanor say soothingly. Velvet peeked over the edge to see the bluebird shrinking away from her where she clung with one hand and one foot to the narrow ledge. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I’ve brought you something good. Here—drink up.”

She set down a little pouch in which a liquefied gel quivered. She’d melted it over the cooking fire during lunch, claiming she liked to drink her gels. Looked like she intended on having the bird drink it.

To her credit, the little bird only took a moment to approach the pouch, then stuck its beak in and began to drink. Eleanor watched it with a warm smile and such attention that she noticed neither Velvet watching her from above, or the fairy-formed daemon hovering towards her from behind.

 _It’ll serve her right. Teach her a lesson about sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong,_ Velvet thought, even as her shoulders tensed and her right arm’s gauntlet blade glinted into the sunlight.

Ironic. It wasn’t as though she was trying to help the vile little liar, either. But that glint must have alerted her to her presence. Eleanor shot an alarmed look up at her, then gasped.

“V-Velvet! This isn’t—I can explain—”

She leaped just as the other daemon did. Her snarls slashed through the air like her claws, which shattered the ice arte the daemon had slung at Eleanor’s back. Eleanor herself had cried out and curled her body around the injured bluebird, her intentions all too transparent. At the same instant, Velvet sliced at the fairy-like creature with her blade, and it shrieked in pain—but it was too light, too aerial, for her to take out with that one blow. Velvet clawed her daemon arm into the mountainside to keep from falling off, then yanked herself up between Eleanor, the bird, and the other daemon.

But the daemon only tittered with malice, winging easily around the two earthbound women until it faced the former praetor. With a low _tch_ , Velvet scampered up the mountainside until she was side by side with Eleanor.

“Get a move on! You’re a sitting duck here!” she demanded.

“B-but I can’t abandon this bird! It’s completely defenseless!”

Snarling in irritation, Velvet yanked Eleanor over. She yelped and grabbed hold of Velvet’s back with one arm. The terrified bluebird huddled next to the liquid gel, shivering, and Velvet made both of them vanish inside her daemonic claw.

“ _No_!!” Eleanor shrieked in horror.

“Kill the daemon!” Velvet demanded. “ _Now_!”

Eleanor scorched Velvet with a glare so hateful it was clear she gave serious thought to killing _this_ daemon. However, when she whipped out her spear and thrust it forward, its target was the fairy’s central mass. The fairy-formed daemon screamed in agony when the blade struck true, before its form tore itself to shreds in death. A quick, decisive mortal blow. How like a praetor.

Then again, Velvet didn’t dislike it either.

As Eleanor sobbed and sniffled in anger, Velvet carefully climbed back up the cliff wall. Carrying Eleanor on her back made it extra difficult, and having to favor her left arm even more so. However, she made it, and soon deposited the ex-exorcist on level ground.

“You’re despicable,” Eleanor declared, glaring at her with tearful eyes. “The true queen of evil. That little bird never hurt anyone, and yet you—oh.”

Velvet uncurled her left hand under Eleanor’s nose to reveal the pouch and the bluebird, both of them quivering but unharmed. When Eleanor gaped at them, then up at her, Velvet leveled her an unimpressed glower and said, “You’re welcome.”

“Th… thank you,” she stammered. Then, with great care, she scooped up the bird and pouch and rested them in her lap. Once they were safe, she smiled, which gentled her expression. “It’s all right now, sweetie. You’ll be okay,” she murmured, stroking the bird with one finger. “Here you go. Drink up.”

The bird continued to shiver. Velvet sat herself next to Eleanor to re-do and tighten the bandages around her arm, and also give her a barrier against anything else that might come crawling up the ravine. It’d be annoying to have to jump to her rescue again.

Eventually, the bluebird stuck out its neck and began to drink the sweet gel again. By then, it’d started to solidify again, but gels were meant for humans and human-sized creatures to consume, so it didn’t take long for the bird to consume enough to let it shake out its now-healed wing.

Velvet thought for sure it would fly away. Instead, though, it peeped a couple of times, tilted its head at Eleanor, and then fluttered its wings and settled down to, apparently, take a nap.

“Oh,” Eleanor uttered again, this time with voice low. She stroked its back again. “It’s been a stressful day, huh? Go ahead and rest, little one.”

Arm resting on her knee, Velvet frowned at her, then huffed out a sigh. She shrugged off her ripped jacket, then swept it around and draped it over Eleanor’s lap. “Here. If you’re going to take care of that thing, you may as well keep it warm.”

“Oh!” Eleanor uttered for the third time. “Um… thank you, Velvet. I, um…” She trailed off, then busied herself with arranging the cloak over her lap just right. After a moment of this, she added, “Y-you don’t have to stick around if you don’t want to. I’m sure you’re not interested.”

“I’d rather not let you run around unsupervised. You’ve already shown you’re bad at following orders,” Velvet countered.

“I-I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean for things to get this out of hand...”

“Right. You just thought you could sneak around behind my back without anyone noticing.”

Eleanor winced. “I-in any case, are you all right? I’m grateful that you’re lending me your cloak for warmth, but...”

“I don’t get cold anymore.”

Her eyes wandered down the bare valley between Velvet’s mountainous breasts. Then she shot her gaze away, face turning red. “C-clearly not.”

“If it was clear, why’d you ask?”

Eleanor had nothing to say to that, and for a few moments thereafter, silence reigned. Velvet was content to let it, more or less, and stared out at the cliffs and bridges and mountains that sprawled out ahead of them. It’d take them some time to reach civilization, assuming there was any on this rock.

“I… I owe you an apology, Velvet,” Eleanor murmured, interrupting her thoughts.

“Why?”

“I completely assumed that you’d eaten that bird when you grabbed it. Yet you went to great pains to keep not just it but also me safe, even though we were enemies until very recently. I never really… I didn’t think you were capable of such kindness. But that was a result of my own biases and prejudices. So… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like you had any reason to think well of me. And it’s not like you were wrong. I would’ve have eaten it, and you, if it’d been more convenient that way.”

Eleanor fell silent. Satisfied that she’d kept her in line, at least for the moment, Velvet did so as well. Once they all found their bearings and figured out where they were, what was their next move? She mulled over it. Her goal as always was to kill Artorius and complete her revenge, but there were so damn many steps in between now and then, and every new happening seemed to add more—

“More convenient what way?” Eleanor said slowly.

Velvet scowled. “What?”

“Is there really a way that would have been less convenient than carrying me and this little one while climbing up a mountainside one-handed?”

“Keep talking like that and I’ll eat you,” she snapped, eyes narrowing. After a beat, she added, “I didn’t mean in that moment. I meant long-term. Phi needs you to be his vessel.”

“Right, and I understand _that_ , but surely it would have been more convenient to eat this bluebird than to climb up that cliff with only one hand while carrying me on your back, is my point,” she pressed. “Please know I’m grateful that you didn’t. I just… don’t understand why.”

Velvet looked away. “You really don’t believe I can think more than two minutes ahead, do you?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re already annoying enough as you are now. If I ate that bird, you’d never shut up about what a monster I am.”

“And why would that bother you, if you _are_ such a monster?”

Velvet palmed her forehead. “Listen. Just drop it.”

Eleanor pursed her lips, but obeyed. For once. Velvet had no idea what she was trying to prove, but she had no intention of letting her pursue it. They were still enemies, even if the praetor didn’t know Velvet knew it.

...Though as a person, and especially as a member of the church, Eleanor was better than most, she supposed. There were lots of people who _claimed_ to care about the helpless, but few who’d risk life, limb, and mission for them. Ironically, it made Velvet feel a tiny bit… not _better_ but more _at ease_ about entrusting Phi to her. Sort of. Even if it weren’t now her Artorius-granted mission, she’d no doubt go to great length to keep him safe.

Then again, that just made her dangerous in a completely different way. Velvet scowled at the idea of Laphicet coming to care for this treacherous girl more than…

Whatever. That was a stupid thought.

And so when the bluebird in Eleanor’s lap shuddered and poked its head up, Velvet didn’t hesitate to focus on it. She scooted around to kneel across from Eleanor, close enough that their knees bumped together, and pull her cloak back from it.

“Oh! Awake already, little one?” Eleanor asked, likewise focusing on the little creature, with a warm and growing smile. “How do you feel?”

The bird chirped, as if in response.

Eleanor giggled. “I see! I’m glad to hear it, then.”

Velvet looked at her, curiosity piqued. “...You can’t actually speak to animals, can you?”

“No, no—I’m just pretending.”

“...I see.” She tilted her head down at the bluebird, which was now grooming itself. Its previously injured wing was still speckled with blood, but it had dried, and the wing itself unfolded with no trouble. Lucky thing; it must’ve been a flesh wound, whatever had been wrong with it.

Meaning Eleanor had been right. It’d been worthwhile to help it. Velvet decided not to share that thought.

“So you’re ready to fly again, hm?” she murmured instead, reaching one long finger out to stroke the bluebird. “Don’t get eaten out there. Not everyone gets to have a second chance like this, so you better not waste it.”

The little bird cocked its head back and forth at its two saviors, warbled at them—perhaps in gratitude—and then hopped to the edge of Eleanor’s lap. With a spread of its wings, it took off, and soon it soared through the blue skies above, alive with song.

Velvet and Eleanor both watched it go. So delighted was Eleanor that she even gasped and grabbed Velvet’s hands as she leaned her head up and forward to get a better look. Velvet let her, smiling faintly up at the bird in flight.

 _Why do birds fly?_ Three years ago, Artorius had asked her that. She hadn’t known the answer, or at least not one he’d found acceptable. She still didn’t know, but watching it now, she felt she understood an inkling better than she did before.

“Why do birds fly?” Eleanor breathed then, and Velvet shot her a wide-eyed stare. However, she seemed to be talking to herself, or perhaps up to the bluebird as it vanished into the azure canopy. Catching Velvet’s look, she blushed and shook her head. “E-excuse me. I was just thinking aloud.”

“And you don’t know the answer, but you think you understand a little better now?” Velvet guessed.

She blinked rapidly, startled. “H-how on earth did you know?”

Velvet said nothing. However, she squeezed Eleanor’s hands, fingers slipping in between hers and lacing together. Like the question her brother-in-law had once posed her, there was something there now, like a spark in the air between them, and she didn’t know what it was… but maybe—

Making a noise halfway between a gasp and a squeak, Eleanor shot her stare down as she let her fingers tangle with Velvet’s. Their knees brushed together, and there was a spark there too somehow, wild and electric and arcing on skin under clothing both ripped and prim. Eleanor looked up, and her face was close, so close that Velvet could see herself in her round eyes and feel her breath on her lips and count the strands of hair that drifted in the breeze across her face. With a thump of her heart, Velvet realized that the same must be true for her. That maybe she felt that spark, too.

The two broke off from each other, Velvet with a forced and exaggerated-to-her-ears huff, Eleanor pushing her bangs back and biting her lower lip. A scattering of heartbeats later, and they glanced at each other, gazes lingering for a moment longer than necessary.

Then Velvet flipped her hair back, rolled back onto the balls of her feet, and stood. _You’re being stupid,_ she told herself. _This woman is an enemy, Artorius’s pawn. Nothing more, and nothing less._

“Wake the others,” she said brusquely. “We need to get going.”

“A-all right,” Eleanor stammered, clutching her hands to her chest as she rose to her feet. Without looking at her again, she hurried into the ruins.

Velvet watched her from the corner of her eye. When she was gone, she scowled. “Tch,” she spat. “Ridiculous.”

She detested the woman, and only allowed her close out of pure necessity. No doubt the same kinds of thoughts ran through Eleanor’s head, considering she’d almost killed herself instead of honoring her bet with Velvet. There was no bond between them, and that was just how she’d have it. Any similarities they shared were purely superficial, and made their differences that much sharper.

Motion in the sky drew her eye up. The bluebird had circled back around, and its song trailed in its wake. Velvet watched it until the others rejoined her, and wondered if its kind truly did bring happiness.


End file.
